Chapter 2
Zion Base
After Jake left, I spent a few hours in my room, laying on my bed and wallowing in my sorrows, it wasn't until I finally decided to have a look around the place; but first, I looked at myself in the mirror and realized that I needed a shower. Luckily for me, my room had a bathroom, complete with a shower, a bath, and everything.
"I don't know how these people did it, but it had to have taken them a long time to build this big place," I thought.
I walked into the bathroom, stripped out of my old, dirty, tattered clothes and turned the water on. I tested the temperature to see how hot it was and let out a small yelp.
"Zimno (Cold)," I thought.
I turned the other faucet and tested the water again. Warm. I climbed inside of the shower and closed the curtain, I closed my eyes and stood under the shower head, letting out a sigh as the water ran down my body. As I soaked myself for what felt like a good five minutes, my eyes snapped open, upon hearing the sound of… gunfire and voices.
"Töte sie! Töte sie alle (Kill them! Kill them all)!"
"Razem Assassins! Weź je! Pobierz ocalałych (Together Assassins! Take them out! Get the survivors)!"
"Ariela! Bieg! Uruchom i nie oglądaj się (Ariela! Run! Run and don't look back)!"
"Miriam!"
I fell back in the shower, I grimaced and groaned in pain upon the impact.
"Miriam," I thought.
I felt my heart start racing, I struggled to breathe, I felt my hands shaking. I guess I'm still coming off of that horrible experience that night.
"Come on Ariela, think logically for a second, there was nothing you could've done for her, they had guns kurwa (for fuck's sake)," I thought as I laid on the shower floor, "still… you could've at least tried instead of letting her get taken…"
I let out a sigh and rose to my feet, after I had washed down and got out of the shower, I dried myself off, put on some fresh clothes and had a look around this place; just as I had originally planned from the start. I headed down the hallway and looked to my left and right, seeing room after room, if I had to guess, I'd say that this area was some kind of… place for people who were rescued during Germany's attack on Poland. I continued walking down the hallway until I came to an intersection and looked to my right, seeing another hallway that led to a large open area… no, some kind of lobby.
I made my way down the hallway and into the lobby, inside there was a chandelier, a series of hallways and doors, a desk far to left of me, and along the walls, I could make out a series of speakers, which meant there had to be some kind of room with an intercom or… something. I looked and walked over to three pairs of doors to the left of me, I gazed through the glass and gasped: There were vehicles parked outside! Military vehicles!
"Exploring are we?" asked a voice.
I turned around fast and saw Jake standing nearby, dressed in some casual attire, not like the same attire he wore when I first met him.
"I… I'm sorry… I just thought… I mean I… I didn't mean to-"
"It's alright," said Jake, "I know this place has a kind of… peaceful and curious feeling to it."
I blushed shyly.
"Ariela, you don't have to be so scared, you're safe," said Jake, "no one here is going to hurt you."
"I'm sorry…" I said, "it's just… I'm still coming off…"
Jake put a hand on my shoulder.
"I understand," he said, "such an experience like that can be… taxing on someone as young as you."
I only gave Jake an affirmative nod in response.
"Come on, let me give you a little tour around this place," he said giving me a smile.
Jake took me by the hand and led me through this… this… uh…
"What is this place?" I asked, "I mean… I know it's got to be some kind of military base but… I don't exactly know if my assumption is correct."
"It is a military building, but calling it a "base" is putting it lightly," said Jake, "this is Zion Base, and it's an underground military stronghold."
I raised an eyebrow.
"What's the uh… what's the difference?" I asked.
Jake laughed as we stopped at the first room.
"Well for one thing, this place is heavily fortified to protect all military personnel and denizens from any kind of attack," said Jake, "also, this place is large enough to be separated into different wings."
We stopped at the first room in, what Jake calls, The Military Wing, where all of the soldiers are held. Jake opened the door and revealed hundreds of soldiers in training, I gasped. I had never seen so many soldiers in one spot… okay that's a lie I have except… look you know where I'm going with this!
"This is the physical training room, where our commandos undergo rigorous training," said Jake.
"Commandos?" I asked, "they're not… soldiers?"
"Calling these men "soldiers" would be putting it lightly," said Jake, "soldiers don't go through the kind of training these men go through. These men and women are some of the toughest bastards the world has… never seen actually."
Jake led me further down the hallway, where we stopped at another room.
"This is the Mess Hall, where of course our commandos have their meals and often times… have a number of fist fights," said Jake.
Jake and I kept going until I saw a room that we walked past. The room was labeled "Fox Den".
"Jake? What's this room?" I asked.
Jake turned and blushed deeply.
"Uh… I'd rather you not take a look in here," he said as he pushed me along.
I wanted to ask him what the room was, but I didn't want to push it… especially considering that he had just turned red as a strawberry.
"This is the combat training room," Jake said as he opened the next door we stopped at, "this is where our commandos train to learn how to fight in hand-to-hand combat, use close quarter weapons, and wield firearms."
I watched the commandos at work, fighting each other in hand-to-hand combat sparring matches, practicing their marksmanship, and practice fighting with knives. It was rather fascinating seeing these guys train so hard and not… never mind. When Jake closed the door, I looked down the end of the hall and saw a pair of locked double doors that was marked with some kind of symbol… a crest of some kind.
"Jake? What's behind those doors?" I asked.
Jake looked at the doors and tried to hide his shock, he turned me away and the two of us made our way out of the military wing.
"Stay away from those doors," he said.
"Why?" I asked.
"Just stay away from those doors alright? Trust me," he said.
"Why? What's behind them?" I asked.
"Just don't go through those doors," Jake said firmly.
I turned and gave Jake a look, he sighed and put a hand on my shoulder.
"Ariela… there's just some things that people like you aren't ready to see just yet," he said.
"Why can't I see what's behind those doors?" I asked in a protesting tone.
"Would you just trust me Ariela? What's behind those doors… if you were to go through them right now, you'd be pulled into a world where you can never get out of," said Jake, "promise me, you won't go through those doors."
I gave Jake a pouty face, what was behind those doors that I couldn't see? I wouldn't blab about it to anyone, I don't even know any of these people… and by people I mean the denizens that these commandos rescued from Poland during the invasion, but even so what was so important about those doors that I couldn't go in and see what's on the other side? Was it some kind of secret weapon? Was it where they keep prisoners? What was it?
"Fine… I promise," I said flatly.
"Good," he said, "feel free to look around the stronghold a little more if you want. If you ever need anything, come find me here in the military wing."
I nodded.
"Hey Jake," I said.
"Hmm?" he asked.
"I just want to say… uh… I just want to say…" I said as I looked down, "thanks… Thanks for… Thanks for bringing me here."
Jake smiled at me and gave me a hug.
"Hey, no problem kiddo, it's what I'm trained to do," he said as he pat me on the head.
Jake turned and left, I turned and headed back to the Civilian Wing, from there I headed into the cafeteria, where I saw a number of people from Poland, most of them were women and children, kids whom I went to school with before the entire world went down the otwór gówno (shit hole). I looked around the cafeteria and saw a couple of chefs making plates for us, roast chicken on some plates and beef brisket on others and a combination of either garlic potatoes, carrots, corn, peas, baked rolls for the sides. I blushed as I felt my stomach growl, I forgot how hungry I was.
"Since I'm here," I thought.
I grabbed a plate and sat down at a nearby table to enjoy my meal. I looked up every few seconds and saw a number of people talking to each other, comforting each other, singing a few songs, or even telling a few jokes to lift another person's spirits. It was really comforting to see; but also really sad, to see so many people suffering because of Germany and their hatred towards the Polish.
"I still don't understand why though, what could we have done to deserve this?" I thought as I bit into my roll.
"Hey Liora," said a voice.
I let out a sigh, I recognized that voice anywhere, that voice belonged to Helena, a girl at my school who used to treat me like absolute shit out of spite; she used to tease me, poke fun about my family being half-German and half-Polish.
"I'm not in the mood Helena," I said.
"Listen, I know that we've had our troubles in the past-"
But Helena was interrupted as she put a hand on my shoulder, in a flash I whirled around and punched her right in the stomach; then I struck her right in the face with my knee, knocking her over. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over at Helena and I, the former whom by the way, was starting to bleed from her nose and coughed up blood.
"Heh-heh, good one," she said as she spat up more blood.
I was confused, she didn't even bother to get up and fight back.
"Look… I know we've had our troubles in the past… and you have every right to beat me down for what happened all of those days when you went to school," Helena said sadly, "I just thought you should know that okay? I'm… I'm really sorry for your family."
I gave Helena a surprised look as she slowly rose to her feet and wiped the blood off of her face.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" I asked.
Helena gave me a sad smile.
"Because I know what it's like to lose people you care about," she said.
"What's going on here?" asked a voice.
I looked towards the door and saw a pair of commandos walk into the cafeteria, Helena looked at me.
"Nothing sir," I said, "Helena just… she tripped."
Helena smiled at me again and gave the commandos a nod.
"I fell and hit the floor really hard," she said.
The commandos looked at us, then they looked at each other and walked out of the cafeteria. Helena looked at me again and gave me a hug, I hugged her back.
"Nice cover," she said.
"I learned from you," I said as I pulled away.
"Mądrala (Smartass)," she said as she gave me a playful shove.
